Variable gear and brake mechanism.



3.. ARCHER.

APPLICATION 21mm 110mm, 1906.

954,664 manned A r. 12,1910;

r .36 7 I III I \Q 1 v w ..i iv

I I V g I v udja a v I WITNESSES.

BY H18 ATTOR la J INVEHTOR.

HEY.

UNTE

STATES PAT T- VARIABLE GEAR AND BRAKE MECHANISM.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES ARCHER, a subject of the King of Great Britainand Ireland, and resident of Nottingham, England, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Variable Gear and Brake Mechanism forVelocipedes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention refers to and consists of an improved combination ofthree speed gear and bac r-pedaling brake for use with bicycles and thelike. The invention is not, however, confined to the special gearhereinafter referred to, but is claimed as applied to any other and likecombination of three speed gear and back pedaling brake.

Upon the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 illustrates a longitudinalsection of a bicycle wheel hub fitted with the present in vention, theparts being shown in the position they occupy when giving the normalspeed. Fig. 2 illustrates a transverse sec tion of Fig. 1 on line :c-ze.Figs. 3, fl, 5, 6 and 7 illustrate certain detail parts separately.

According to the invention use is made, with the hub 1, of a collar orsleeve 2, which lies around a tubular part 3 of the planet cage 3 andwithin a bush 4:, hereinafter called the hub bush. Such collar or sleeve2 upon its interior is formed with a coarse scrmv-thread or worm 5, seeFig. l, and upon the exterior of the said tubular part 3* of the planetcage is a like screw-thread or worm 6, see Fig. 5, the two screw-threadsor worms being designed to engage each other. The collar or sleeve 2 atone end is formed conical inside and outside, and such conical endcorresponds to like conical parts of the hub bush 4 and the brake bush7.

Carried by the hub bush at and acting upon the sleeve 2 (or vice versa)is a drag friction device. Such device, see Figs. (5 and 7, consistspreferably of a ring 8 with a tongue or spur S struck out of it, thislatter always gently pressing upon the exterior of the sleeve, so thatwhen the planet cage is retated the friction causes the rotation of thesleeve to be momentarily retarded, and the sleeve, owing to thescrew-threads, to be traversed endwise, one way or the other, accordingto the direction of rotation of the planet cage. hen the sleeve is movedendwise in one direction its outer conical face engages the innerinclined or conical face of the hub bush et, see Fig. 1, but when it isSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. November 13, 1906.

Patented Apr. 12, 1910.

Serial No. 343,300.

moved in the opposite direction its outer face leaves the hub bush andits inner conical face engages the brake bush. WVhen the bicycle iswheeled backward by hand the sleeve 2 slacks off and lies clear of boththe hub bush and the brake bush, or, at least, has no effect on either.

The variable three speed gearing is of any suitable type, but consistspreferably of a driving member 9 to which is applied the sprocket orchain wheel 10 and in one with or connected to which is a gear ring 11formed with internal spur teeth 11 and clutch teeth 11. Carried by saiddriving member are the axes 12 of a set of planetary pinions 12.Surrounding and meshing with the pinions 12 is the further gear ring 13,and between the said ring and the hub is ratchet mechanism for allowingthe ring to drive the hub forward for the high and normal speeds, orallowing it to run free or permitting of the brake being applied on allthree speeds. Upon the fixed axle 1 of the hub are two sun pinions 14:,15, the former being fixed, and the latter loose and free to rotate andalso capable of being slid along the axle for the purpose of engagingthe clutch teeth 11 in the gear ring 11, or of engaging the clutch teeth16 in the bush 16 fixed to the axle 1 or of being moved free of both.Carried by the. planet cage is a further set of planetary pinions 17which mesh with the fixed pinion 14;.

\Vith the parts in the position shown in Fig. 1 and the driver 9 rotatedin the forward direction, the motion is imparted to the hub through theaxes 12 pinions 12 and gear ring 13 (which for the time being rotatesolid with each other), the hub then rotating at the normal speed andover-running the sleeve 2, which has then no effect either on the hub orthe brake. With the pinion moved endwise until it becomes clutched tothe teeth in the bush 16 and the driver still rotated in the forwarddirection, the motion is imparted to the hub through the axes 12 pinions12 and gear ring 13, which are then free, the hub then rotating at thehigh speed and again over-running the sleeve 2, which has still noeffect either on the hub or the brake. With the pinion 15 made free ofboth the teeth in the bush 16 and the teeth 11 in the gear ring 11, andwith the driver rotated in the forward direction, the motion is thenimparted to the hub through the axes 12", gear ring 11,

pinions 17, planet cage 3 and sleeve 2, this latter engaging the hubbush 4 and the hub being driven at the low speed, the gear ring 13 beingidle and having no effect on the hub. It will thus be seen that thesleeve 2 is only used to drive forward the hub for the low speed, thegear ring 13 being used for the high and normal gears. \Vhen, however,the motion of the driver is reversed for the purpose of applying thebrake, the sleeve operates upon the brake with each speed. That is tosay, owing to the ratchet mechanism between the ring 13 and hub 1, thereverse rotations of the driver, whatever the position of the pinion 15,can only impart motion to the sleeve, thus causing it when rotatedbackward to act with each speed upon the brake, and always through thelow gear.

On the pedals of the bicycle being held stationar on any gear the ring13 and ratchet mechanism allow of free-wheeling and on wheeling thebicycle backward, on any gear, the sleeve has no effect either on thehub or the brake, the drag friction being insuiiicient to produce anyrotary action of the sleeve.

IVith the driver always in gear with the mechanism for producing the lowgear there is no slipping of the pedals when changing the speeds.Furthermore, owing to the driver 9 always operating the brake throughthe low gear, the brake power is the same for all three speeds.

li hile preferring the improved combination of gear with the two sets ofplanetary pinions, I may employ any other and convenient arrangement ofdifferential gearing I capable of giving or allowing of three speeds,the main feature of the invention being the combination of a three speedgear of any suitable kind and a back-pedaling brake with the sleeve 2whereby the hub may be driven forward at three different speeds and thebrake may be applied with each speed, while on wheeling the bicyclebackward by hand the brake will not be applied.

What I claim is In the hub of a bicycle wheel or the like, thecombination of an arrangement of variable speed gear capable of givingor allowing of three speeds, a back-pedaling brake and a sleeve having aspiral groove on its inner face, this latter being designed to engageeither the hub or the brake according to the direction of rotation ofthe gear, and the said gear comprising two sets of planetary pinions,and two sun pinions whereof one is fixed and the other free to be movedendwise and be clutched either to the hub axle or the driving member, orlie clear of both, a planet pinion carrier by which one of the sets ofplanetary pinions is carried and on which is formed a screw-threadcorresponding to the spiral groove in the said sleeve, a drag frictiondevice acting on the sleeve, a gear ring in one with the driving memberand meshing with the pinions carried by the said carrier, a further gearring meshing with the other set of planetary pinions which are carriedby the driver, and ratchet mechanism between this last named ring andthe hub by which the ring transmits the motion of the pedals for thehigh and normal speeds, substantially as herein set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twowitnesses.

JAMES ARCHER.

lVitnesses Ti-ros. I'I. COOK, HORACE BUNN.

